It is known that air bags are used within vehicles for passenger safety in the event of an accident or collision. The known vehicle air bags are generally positioned within vehicle body components in the passenger area, typically behind detachable trim sections of the vehicle. When an air bag is activated or deployed, the associated trim within the vehicle pops off or otherwise separates from the body or sheet metal of the vehicle to allow full deployment of the air bag. It is desirable to prevent the trim from flying freely around the occupant compartment of the vehicle and potentially creating a safety hazard. To prevent this from happening, fasteners may be used that provide one or more generally flexible tethers that are attached to the vehicle trim. However, these fasteners with tethers offer little control over the movement and direction of the vehicle trim during and after an air bag is deployed.
The present invention addresses these and other drawbacks with known fastening clips and in particular fastening clips that may be used with vehicle air bag release systems.